Hull erections include any erection on the hull proper which extends above the main rail. They are sometimes called deck erections, but since this latter term is also applied to the joiner houses, it is deemed best to here differentiate between the two. In general hull erections will include the poop, bridge, and forecastle, the bridge being located amidships. Sometimes the bridge is set further aft and combined with the poop, making what is known as a long connecting poop and bridge. Figure 194 shows the location of these structures on a vessel of the Three Island Type.

There are two general methods of building up that portion of the poop rounding the stern. The first is by the use of swinging cants set around the stern, these extending to the poop deck, as has been shown in the chapter on framing. The usual planking on the sides of the poop is then run around the stern and there is no solid work.

In the second method, the after portion of the poop is built up entirely of solid work, as shown in Figs. 162 and 163. Figure 162 shows a construction quite commonly used on small vessels built on the Pacific Coast, and is shown here for comparison with the construction detailed in Fig. 163 which is used on larger vessels. In Fig. 162 it will be noted that the solid work around the stern carries the same detail as the bulwark which is shown in Section A-A. Owing to the fact that the bulwark planking is quite narrow, one course of solid work is made to represent two bulwark planks by cutting a V groove in the middle of the course.

The courses should where possible match up with the seams in the bulwark and poop planking as shown in the figure. Where the seams of the solid work are not made to fair into seams of the bulwark and poop planking, it is necessary to wedge them flush and cut V grooves to fair with the corresponding V grooves in the planking seams.

This type of solid work is molded the same as the thickness of the planking, plus the molding of the frame, hence the inside face of this work, where it butts against the first frame extending to the poop deck, will be exactly flush with the inside of the frame. It is customary to carry this same molding around the stern. The type of stern on which this solid work is used, has been shown in Fig. 64, and by referring to this figure it will be seen that the rim lands on top of the after timber of the frame against which the solid work ends, and that the solid work will therefore extend to the center-line of the frame and abut the forward timber.

The bulwark planking and side planking of the poop must be scarfed back onto the solid work. In order to break the scarfs and avoid what would appear to be a vertical Beam at this point, about one-half of the planks are scarfed back further than the balance as shown in the figure. The solid work showing on the outside is grained in the figure to make it stand out from the planking. A section through the scarfs is shown at B-B. Comparison of this section with that of the bulwark will show that the outside detail has been retained exactly. The rail clamp, and that portion of the main rail extending inside the inner face of the stanchion has been stopped at the poop bulkhead.

There are several variations of the construction shown in this figure which can and have been used. In the most notable one, where the poop is short, the main rail is extended through as a solid course, all frames being stopped against it as in a bulwark, and all work above the main rail to the break is solid work, of the same type as here shown further aft. The solid work however carries the same detail as shown in the figure.

The type of solid work shown in Fig. 163 is the same as that indicated on the stern frame shown in Fig. 66 Chapter II (Frames In General), where it will be noted that the rim sets some distance above the deck line. The bulwark detail as shown in Section A-A is not carried around the stern but is returned at a point about in line with the break of the poop. To accomplish this return the butt joints between the thin bulwark planking and the heavier strakes on each side and those extending to the stern, are arranged on the curve indicated in the figure. Then the beading is cut on the ends of the heavier strakes, around this curve, care being taken to have it exactly match and fair into the beading on the upper and lower bead strakes.

The solid work in this figure has a sharp rake aft at the extreme after end. This rake gradually diminishes toward the sides of the poop until at the section B-B it will disappear and the work will be practically plumb. Forward of the point where the section B-B is taken it may have a slight tumble home.

The sides of the poop are planked, this being scarfed back onto the solid work as shown. Since the outside surfaces are finished flush, without V grooves for trim, no attempt is made to have the seams of the planking and solid work match up. Where this can be done however it would probably result in improved appearance as the vessel gets older and the seams tend to open up and show.

The outside face of this rim is faired to the outer face of the planking. The forward ends abut the frame and the outer portion, corresponding to the plank, or knuckle strake is carried to the center of the frame, to make a proper butt against the knuckle strake. The knuckle strake (shown shaded), is fitted to fair out the knuckle line forward of the rim, to a fair planking surface, as the rim is so short that it is generally impossible to fair out the knuckle line, or make it disappear, on the rim proper. The forward end of the knuckle strake will be the same as a plank, while the after end will match the rim.